Ha never done that before worst thing i done was leave it on barbq grill to long and it removed the seasoning .now my pan is in perfect shape nothing will stick to it. i hope it some day will be like 300 years old still it even gets beter every year

They are about all I cook in. Made dinner tonight in this one I picked up at a yard sale for $3.00. What I like is you can start ot cooking on the stovetop and transfer them right into the oven(or the grill tonight) to finish. When the potatoes and carrots were just about done, I grilled some pork chops next to them. I've got about 8 cast iron pans, one of them is and old waffle iron. Makes real nice waffles.

i use a plastic brush type thing its about 5 inches across not sure what it was amde for but it works great for my pans my pans are slick as silicon i can cook everything in it and it wont stick omleetes etec etc.I laugh at these new high tech pans that ya cant even use metal objects in them lol

I always wash mine with a little soap and a brush, otherwise they look/smell gross. How do you clean them otherwisE?

Put them on the stove with a little water in them ,bring to a boil and scrub away. You can use your brush for this after you rinse the soap out of it. Wipe out after rinsing and put back on a warm stove,no extra heat. If you put water in them immediately after taking out whatever you just cooke ,it works like a hot damn, watch out for the steam from the water hitting the pan. Wipe/dry.

I don't care if you are on a unicycle, as long as you're not using a motor to get places you get props from me. We're here to support each other. Share ideas, and motivate one another to actually keep doing it.

The most reliable aim is to coat the cast iron in oil (plant or animal-based is fine; just make sure it gets hot enough, but not hot enough to reach its flash point).

Have you ever seen cooking oil in a pot get way too thick and sticky to clean easily? That's what happens when the oil isn't heated enough, or for long enough. It partially oxidizes, and in many cases becomes a sort of epoxy. There's actually a discussion about this type of oxidation in the mechanics forum:http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...turn-into-glue

Smoking the oil is a more rapid and thorough oxidation, leaving behind a layer of nearly pure carbon, similar in nature to graphite.

I have two favorite methods: Stove top and oven. Either way, choose an oil that has a reasonably low smoke point (such as bacon fat or extra-virgin olive oil). Coat the metal enough to make it shiny. If there's some pooling in the inside, it's too much; it may become the super-sticky epoxy, or it may just take a lot longer to thoroughly oxidize. It really doesn't take a lot. Coat all sides (not the bottom if you're doing this on top of the stove -- which is why the oven method is more thorough). Place the piece onto/into the heat source and *then* turn on the heat. If in the oven, generally 350º-400º is enough. On the stove, turn it to medium so it will slowly heat up. Allow it to smoke for a while (a minimum of an hour is recommended, but I've been getting away with much less without problems).

An easy cheat method is making butter toast in the skillet: warm the skillet enough for the butter to sizzle (I'm not sure how most butter substitutes behave, but most are still oil based so this should work), place the bread into the pot or skillet until a lovely brown. enjoy the toast however you like, and let the remainder of the oil smoke away for a bit. That will at least help maintain your cooking surface. Of course a deeper piece (like pots or dutch ovens) will benefit from oven seasoning more than just bottom surface maintenance.

I love my 3 cast iron skillets but I do keep a cheapo non-stick one around for making lo mein. Those noodles will stick to cast iron no matter how well it is seasoned. Also, I don't like cooking highly acidic foods in my cast iron. My version of huevos rancheros requires me to poach eggs in a salsa-like concoction. I won't do that in cast iron unless I want to taste the iron.

An easy way to season the skillet is to make popcorn in it. You just have to find a cover that works reasonably well.

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I used to have non sticks i forgot there name but it was like in 95 they was on info mercails and i got one and it was very very non stick it just didnt last to long but it was fun puting chease in it .The awesume thing about cast iron is if ya cooka steak and sear it it will stay hot for so long non sticks soon as ya add the meat the meat will take all the heat out of pan so fast so it didnt sear

I love my 3 cast iron skillets but I do keep a cheapo non-stick one around for making lo mein. Those noodles will stick to cast iron no matter how well it is seasoned. Also, I don't like cooking highly acidic foods in my cast iron. My version of huevos rancheros requires me to poach eggs in a salsa-like concoction. I won't do that in cast iron unless I want to taste the iron.

An easy way to season the skillet is to make popcorn in it. You just have to find a cover that works reasonably well.

Acidic foods may strip the seasoning from the metal. Good ideas on skipping those.

Also, if stainless is treated well, it'll handle almost everything I won't cook in cast iron. There are *some* things I'll want to use non-stick cookware to prepare, but mostly stainless and cast iron work for me.

You have to start all over seasoning them then and even then you never get them as good as they where before you washed them.

You can always get them good as ...old... but the use patterns that produced the old finish are probably impossible to replicate so it might be unlikely to steer a restarted pan to the exact place it used to be.

Cannot let my MIL near the cast iron she is not comfortable w/o a gallon of dish soap to fill the sink and splash the surrounding counter with.

My fave CI pan I broke out of a cube of rust. Tremendous payoff for the effort.

I can't say if it's valuable or not, but I have a Wagner (it's the other less known collect-able brand) that has sides shaped (how do i say this?) like a sauce pan but shallow like a frying pan. Nice and sloped like a modern sauce pan, it's the only old cast iron pan I've ever seen like it. I'd take a picture of it but I just moved and everything is still in storage until I get outta this little apartment.

I have a couple of nice Griswolds too, but I don't think they have any value outside of any standard run of mill Griswold pan.

The way I season mine is pretty much like Blinkie posted, except I put mine on the grill outside. I put whatever oil I'm using on a paper towel and wipe it down just enough to very lightly coat it. Light one side of the grill, put the pot or pan on the other and close the lid.